A combination of writing reviews for qype, my love of Shepherd's Bush and my fondness for local traders has meant that I am constantly trying to discover new things in the area.
The enforced closure of the central line station means I will be discovering new things in White City, which I'm really not excited about seeing as the only things in White City are the BBC and a rough looking estate.
Still, I continue to potter about the Bush and the 'Smith finding new spots to explore in an almost obsessive fashion. This does mean that I feel both bad and good about particularly liking one place and returning there frequently. Obviously it's good because I'm providing custom for that place but at the same time I could use that lunchtime to see if there's somewhere else I might like.
We used to have lunch in Cafe Tuga A LOT. Recently we've been patronising the Panini House often, so much so that they are giving us free stuff because we spend so much time and money in there. But I still feel I have a responsibility to make sure each establishment in the area has had an opportunity to attract my custom, but maybe I should just stay in the places where they give me free things?
Thursday 31 January 2008
Tuesday 29 January 2008
Chooseday
I lead a fairly irregular lifestyle, not really irregular, just a bit, like a spy who only works part time. I'm obviously not a spy who only works part time because I would've just given myself away, but then maybe it's a double bluff.
It isn't, I'm no spy. Relax.
Anyway, so I don't have a 9-5 job is the gist of it, so my week's activities can vary a bit. What seems to happen most weeks though is that I get asked if I want to do things on just one day of the week and I have to choose one thing and turn down the rest. I am then left with little to do for the remainder of the week.
Is it just me or does this affect everyone?
So tonight I have Parkour in Royal Oak, but I've also been asked to do a gig and to see a play. I am committed to parkour because my housemate will deride me and accuse me of not exercising for the entire week if I don't go, but it would've been good to do a gig and also to see a play.
I watched a documentary about Mark Everett from Eels finding out stuff about his dad last night. His dad came up with the multi-world theory, if he was right I suppose I can reassure myself that there is a world in which I have done the gig and a world in which I have gone to the play, so all is not lost.
It isn't, I'm no spy. Relax.
Anyway, so I don't have a 9-5 job is the gist of it, so my week's activities can vary a bit. What seems to happen most weeks though is that I get asked if I want to do things on just one day of the week and I have to choose one thing and turn down the rest. I am then left with little to do for the remainder of the week.
Is it just me or does this affect everyone?
So tonight I have Parkour in Royal Oak, but I've also been asked to do a gig and to see a play. I am committed to parkour because my housemate will deride me and accuse me of not exercising for the entire week if I don't go, but it would've been good to do a gig and also to see a play.
I watched a documentary about Mark Everett from Eels finding out stuff about his dad last night. His dad came up with the multi-world theory, if he was right I suppose I can reassure myself that there is a world in which I have done the gig and a world in which I have gone to the play, so all is not lost.
Wednesday 23 January 2008
Shameful Plug
My dear readers, I have been nominated for a glorious award. Not the Oscars, I'm far too internet based for awards that exist beyond the world wide web.
Ahem. The gist of it is that a show I did with John-Luke Roberts at the Edinburgh Festival last year titled "The Gently Progressive Behemoth" has been nominated for the Innovation in Comedy award, or something like that.
This is where you wonderful folks can play your part. The nominees are put forward by a panel, but the awards are actually voted for by the public, id est YOU. Could I ask that if you've ever enjoyed a word I've writ, or even if you think I'm a plonker, that you might take a paltry few seconds and vote?
http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2008/01/24/6316/hundreds_vote_in_chortle_awardsI've never been nominated for a thing before. The only thing I ever won was 3rd place in a gymnastics competition. And I have never won a raffle. This has led me to believe that all raffles are fixed. This means I shout repeatedly the word 'fix!' whenever anyone mentions the word 'raffle'.
Vote, if only to put my faith back into the raffle systems of the world.
Or don't vote. I'll be terrifically sad, but I'll understand. And then I will kill you.
Thanks!
Monday 21 January 2008
Line Down
So the plight of the Bush people continues. Tfl is shafting us once more, with gusto.
With only 4 weeks notice (because they changed their minds in Dec) we have been informed that the Central Line Shepherd's Bush station will be closed for 8 months. For the first week we were all quite bemused, seeing the posters and thinking 'have I been totally self involved and not noticing that they are closing down my main transport hub for the next 8 months of my life??' until realising the posters had just been erected.
And from confusion comes fury. As the 20,000 commuters who use the station everyday realised that the station was closing with barely a whit of notice they start to bubble with anger and frustration.
From fury comes action. The local Labour MP with the rather brilliant name of Andy Slaughter rustles his troops together and starts a campaign to keep the station open.
Of course most of the commuters are used to the persistent frustrations, disappointments and irritations of TfL and have resigned themselves to the fact it will take them longer to get to work, will be more of a pain in the ass and will cost more of their hard-earned moolah.
The campaign is worthy but most of us think ultimately pointless as we all kow that TfL will do as Tfl pleases, even if it means getting a night bus to Hell and back before getting a tube on a weekend.
The best moment was when Andy Slaughter and pals were flyering outside the station, and at the same time employees of TfL were handing out flyers in a sort of propaganda-off.
Being the democrat that I am, I took one of each and read both. Here is a run down of the points made.
With only 4 weeks notice (because they changed their minds in Dec) we have been informed that the Central Line Shepherd's Bush station will be closed for 8 months. For the first week we were all quite bemused, seeing the posters and thinking 'have I been totally self involved and not noticing that they are closing down my main transport hub for the next 8 months of my life??' until realising the posters had just been erected.
And from confusion comes fury. As the 20,000 commuters who use the station everyday realised that the station was closing with barely a whit of notice they start to bubble with anger and frustration.
From fury comes action. The local Labour MP with the rather brilliant name of Andy Slaughter rustles his troops together and starts a campaign to keep the station open.
Of course most of the commuters are used to the persistent frustrations, disappointments and irritations of TfL and have resigned themselves to the fact it will take them longer to get to work, will be more of a pain in the ass and will cost more of their hard-earned moolah.
The campaign is worthy but most of us think ultimately pointless as we all kow that TfL will do as Tfl pleases, even if it means getting a night bus to Hell and back before getting a tube on a weekend.
The best moment was when Andy Slaughter and pals were flyering outside the station, and at the same time employees of TfL were handing out flyers in a sort of propaganda-off.
Being the democrat that I am, I took one of each and read both. Here is a run down of the points made.
Campaign to keep the station open:
- TfL is being paid by Westfield to replace the escalators and spruce up the station, they were given an ultimatum: have it finished by the time we open or we don't pay for it. I.E. It is run by who pays for it, not for paying commuters who already pay extortionate ticket prices.
- Their original plans were to keep the station open, so it is actually possible to do so, they are simply buckling under corporate pressure.
- The suggested replacement services are a farce. One shuttle bus every 10 minutes is about as useful to commuters as a vaccine against happiness.
- Local businesses will suffer hugely, particularly as the station will reopen when Westfield is open, which will have poached much of the travelling custom.
- TfL are a bunch of cash-led douchebags.
TfL:
- It will be quicker
- It won't take as long
- We can finish it faster
- It will be quicker
TffffffffL
I have been away constant reader(s). Do not be sad at my having momentarily left you, I have returned and am altogether the better for it.
Although really I'd rather still be away. There is nothing to bring you back to the mundanity and idiocy of London than returning on a weekend and daring to use public transport.
Why is London Underground such a joke? How can Paris and Berlin operate such better services, with more complexity and a far slimmer price? Why are we constantly being shafted by TfL?
No one is fooled by their ridiculous advertising, you would have to be a tourist or a bonefide moron to fall for it.
E.G.They hiked the prices up on the buses from 80p to £1, and then slathered posters everywhere a few weeks later saying "bus fares slashed to 90p!". NO TfL! BUS FARES BLOODY INCREASED BY 10P!
Ditto tube fares. They were £1 for a 1 zone journey, then they were risen to £2 before 'plummeting' to £1.50 with only the last stage advertised.
And on top of that they subject us to moronic or just plain offensive advertising. Do you recall those awful boob job ads? People on their way to work in the morning are usually miserable enough before being informed that they are physically unacceptable in the chest. And what about children going to school? Must the first lesson of the day be that they are not permitted to have a healthy body image? That the unnatural act of surgery to physically alter your normal state is actually desirable?
TfL makes me so angry. Expect more vitriol in their direction.
Although really I'd rather still be away. There is nothing to bring you back to the mundanity and idiocy of London than returning on a weekend and daring to use public transport.
Why is London Underground such a joke? How can Paris and Berlin operate such better services, with more complexity and a far slimmer price? Why are we constantly being shafted by TfL?
No one is fooled by their ridiculous advertising, you would have to be a tourist or a bonefide moron to fall for it.
E.G.They hiked the prices up on the buses from 80p to £1, and then slathered posters everywhere a few weeks later saying "bus fares slashed to 90p!". NO TfL! BUS FARES BLOODY INCREASED BY 10P!
Ditto tube fares. They were £1 for a 1 zone journey, then they were risen to £2 before 'plummeting' to £1.50 with only the last stage advertised.
And on top of that they subject us to moronic or just plain offensive advertising. Do you recall those awful boob job ads? People on their way to work in the morning are usually miserable enough before being informed that they are physically unacceptable in the chest. And what about children going to school? Must the first lesson of the day be that they are not permitted to have a healthy body image? That the unnatural act of surgery to physically alter your normal state is actually desirable?
TfL makes me so angry. Expect more vitriol in their direction.
Friday 11 January 2008
A New Fish Cake!
I reviewed a local cake-makers/coffee shop on Qype and railed about the poor Nemo-esque cake which had been in the window since what could be argued to be the dawn of time.
Today was a joyous day because when I strolled past La Brioche there was a brand new fish cake in the window! So excited was I that I took a picture
on my new phone (which I have just fugured out and can now transfer pictures to my PC).
on my new phone (which I have just fugured out and can now transfer pictures to my PC). Unfortunately, the poor doll cake is still there, and the centrepiece is totally gross.
Monday 7 January 2008
Another Day Another Dollar
I was not built for working. I am too pretty and too witty for such a banal thing as working.
So why am I still having to work? Why? Why on Earth am I still having to get up early and conduct tedious tasks that I have little to no interest in for people I would never associate with were it not for my need to get them to give me money? Why?
Oh it's not so bad. I only work part-time, and I temp here and there. The beauty of temping is that you know you never have to stay in the same awful place for longer than your short contract. And my part-time job is not so bad. But it does mean I see no sunlight on a Monday or Tuesday.
But I guess the miners had it worse. At least I don't have asbestos.
There is some good news, though, fret not constant reader. When juicing up my oyster card I discovered they'd hoicked up the prices AGAIN and I became stuffed with fury. I was an angry fowl, with rage and onion stuffing. I refused to buy a weekly travelcard (nearly £25) and put on £20 pre-pay in a bid to show TfL that it's cheaper not to buy a weekly travelcard (because I'm pretty sure they are tracking me wherever I go). Moments later I saw a poster which told me I can get a discount on pre-pay daily travelcard cap prices with a young person's railcard. I HAVE A YOUNG PERSON'S RAILCARD! So I'm now enjoying off peak daily travelcards at the almost reasonable price of £3.10. Hoop la!
Although...if I didn't need to go to work I wouldn't need to leave my house and thus I'd never have to pay for travel anyway. Sigh.
So why am I still having to work? Why? Why on Earth am I still having to get up early and conduct tedious tasks that I have little to no interest in for people I would never associate with were it not for my need to get them to give me money? Why?
Oh it's not so bad. I only work part-time, and I temp here and there. The beauty of temping is that you know you never have to stay in the same awful place for longer than your short contract. And my part-time job is not so bad. But it does mean I see no sunlight on a Monday or Tuesday.
But I guess the miners had it worse. At least I don't have asbestos.
There is some good news, though, fret not constant reader. When juicing up my oyster card I discovered they'd hoicked up the prices AGAIN and I became stuffed with fury. I was an angry fowl, with rage and onion stuffing. I refused to buy a weekly travelcard (nearly £25) and put on £20 pre-pay in a bid to show TfL that it's cheaper not to buy a weekly travelcard (because I'm pretty sure they are tracking me wherever I go). Moments later I saw a poster which told me I can get a discount on pre-pay daily travelcard cap prices with a young person's railcard. I HAVE A YOUNG PERSON'S RAILCARD! So I'm now enjoying off peak daily travelcards at the almost reasonable price of £3.10. Hoop la!
Although...if I didn't need to go to work I wouldn't need to leave my house and thus I'd never have to pay for travel anyway. Sigh.
Friday 4 January 2008
A Whole New Year
Why do we even bother having a new year? It is always awful. It takes about three months to get going, doesn't it? And by then it's March and you've wasted a quarter of your year already.
I suppose that's why we have a big huge party to kick it off.
This year I went to a pretty good party, it was hosted by someone I don't know, and that made it quite good because I met new people and even if I made an arse of myself, it wasn't in front of my friends.
It was in Liverpool Street, and thank goodness for the late running tubes because I just wouldn't have left my house if I'd had to get a taxi from East London.
Why are taxis so damned expensive in London? Why does it cost £15 to go 2 miles? It's something I'm often astounded by, particularly when I leave London and see how cheap taxis are elsewhere. Where does it stop being so outrageoulsy expensive? Is zone 3 cheaper than zone 2?
Answers on a postcard to the usual address.
I suppose that's why we have a big huge party to kick it off.
This year I went to a pretty good party, it was hosted by someone I don't know, and that made it quite good because I met new people and even if I made an arse of myself, it wasn't in front of my friends.
It was in Liverpool Street, and thank goodness for the late running tubes because I just wouldn't have left my house if I'd had to get a taxi from East London.
Why are taxis so damned expensive in London? Why does it cost £15 to go 2 miles? It's something I'm often astounded by, particularly when I leave London and see how cheap taxis are elsewhere. Where does it stop being so outrageoulsy expensive? Is zone 3 cheaper than zone 2?
Answers on a postcard to the usual address.
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